LC 

V5A5 
1S60 



Author 




Title 



Qass 
Book 



Imprint 




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REPORT 



OF THE 



5 ''''C-'f <2.s5(i.vr.olVf '^■cnrue. 



COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY. 



UPON THE RESOLUTION INSTRUCTING SAID COMMITTEE TO MAKE 
INQUIRIES IN REGARD TO 



THE LATE DECISION 



OF THE 



BO-A.RD OF EDUCATION, 



SUBMITTED 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1860. 



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MONTPELIER : 

PRD^TBD AT THE FREEMAN PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 
> 1860. 




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In Senate, Oct. 25th, I860- 
Submitted, read, ordered to lie and five hundred copies ordered to be 
printed for the use of the Senate. 

H. E. MINER, Ass't Sec'y. 








KEPORT 



COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY. 



To the Senate noiv In Sessmi : 

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referrecl the 
resolution directing the Judiciary Committee "to enquire how 
" far the late decision of the Board of Education of this State, 
" respecting the power of the State to require the use of the Bi- 
" ble in schools affects, or is likely to affect, the use of that book 
'' in the schools ; and whether any legislation is necessary in the 
'' premises," have had the same under consideration, and beg leave 
to report thereon : — 

Since the resolution does not specify particularly the decision 
of the Board of Education to which it has reference, it may be 
proper to state briefly the proceedings to which the attention of 
your Comiuittee has been directed, and on which their report is 
based. 

Previous to the passing of the act of 1858, hereafter men- 
tioned, it was by the statutes relating to common schools, provided 
that the town superintendents of the several towns in each Coun- 
ty should constitute a Board to recommend suitable books to be 
used in the schools of their respective Counties— that in 1858 




the Legislature passed an act making it the duty of the Board of 
Education previous to January, 1859, " to select^ or procure to 
be selected, a list of Grammars, Geographies, Arithmetics, Read- 
ers and Spellers, to be used in the district schools in this State ; 
and making such selection, when made and published, authorita- 
tive and binding upon the Board of Education, superintendents 
and teachers, until January, 1864 ; " and providing that " teach- 
'' ers and superintendents shall recommend for use in the district 
" schools, as new books shall be necessary for instruction in the 
" branches named, no other than books included in said list so 
" established." It will be noticed that this act is limited to the 
selection of books to be used in instruction in the particular 
branches named in the act, and, as the Com.mittee construe it, to 
text books in these branches of instruction, and does not con- 
template the selection of books for devotional services any far- 
ther than the religious character of a book might have its influ- 
ence in selecting books for the purpose which the statute has in 
view, that is, instruction in the art of reading, &c. 

In pursuance of that statute, the Board of Education made a 
selection of books to be used for the purposes of instruction in 
the branches of education named in the statute ; and it appears 
by their third annual report (and more particularly from the Sec- 
retary's report— that of 1859) that they had under consideration 
the question of the propriety of recommending the Bible as a 
reader, and that the result was that it was not included in the 
books by them selected. The Committee refer to the annual re- 
port of the Board of Education, page 6, and to the report of 
their Secretary accompanying it, page 18, to which the Board 
(see page 1 of their report,) refer for a more full statement of 
their doings, and the policy which guided them.. " 







Confining the resolution strictly to its language, this is the 
only decision of the Board of Education that has come to the 
notice of the Committee which would seem to come within the 
scope of the resolution ; but as the resolution may be construed 
to embrace another proceeding which has been before us, and as 
probably that was the intention, we have thought pro])er to con- 
sider it. 

The Committee find from the report of the Secretary of the 
Board above referred to. (page 64) that in June, 1859, the su- 
perintendent of Brighton Vvvote to J. S. Adams, Esq., the Sec- 
retary of the Board, that a teacher in that town, requested all 
the pupils to briitg testaments and read in the morning at the 
opening of the school ; that two or three children of Catholic 
parents, under the direction of their parents, refused to comply with 
this requirement, and asking Mr. Adams' advice as to the course 
the teacher ought to pursue, — and to which Mr. Adams replied, 
advising against enforcing such requirement upon those whose re- 
ligious faith forbid a compliance : and setting out his reasons for 
such advice. This correspondence is set out at length in that re- 
port and to which the Committee beg leave to refer, and therefore 
omit a more full statement of its contents. If this action of the 
Secretary is to be treated as a decision of the Board of Educa- 
tion, then it comes within the scope of the resolution, (although 
your Committee can hardly so regard it,) but it has been consid- 
ered for the reasons above stated. 

Two questions only seem to be involved in the inquiry put to 
your Committee : 1st, What effect the proceedings of the Board 
of Education will have, or be likely to haA'c. to exclude the use 
of the Bible from common schools. 2d, What le^islatiovi is neu- 
essary, if any, on the subject. 





In relation to the proceedings of the Board in omitting to in- 
clude the Bible in the list of text-books selected under the stat- 
ute and recommended for use, your Committee are of opinion that 
although the selection and recommendation of text-books under 
the existing laws is advisory merely, and not compulsory on the 
inhabitants of the several school-districts, yet the influence of 
such decision in the selection of text-books would ])e likely in 
some manner to be adverse to the use of the Bible in schools as a 
text-book for instruction in reading ; but the Committee are un- 
able to see that it will in any way tend to exclude or abridge the 
use of the Bible as a devotional exercise, nor do we think that it 
was so designed by the Board of Education, for in the report 
above mentioned it is said that " moral culture, resting upon Bi- 
" ble truth as its only safe basis, is a matter of the highest mo- 
" ment in all our schools, and therefore that a Scripture lesson, 
" read by the teacher, is in the highest degree desirable as an 
" opening and closing exercise in the schools." 

As to the effect of the advice of the Secretary to the town su- 
perintendent, should it be followed and the practice prevail of ex- 
cusing these pupils from joining in the exercise of reading the 
Bible, whose religious faith and that of their parents forbids it 
(and this is the extent to which it goes) your committee do not 
see that it will have the effect to exclude or materially affect the 
practice of reading the Bible in schools as a religious exercise or 
devotional service, especially considering the small number com- 
paratively of Catholic pupils in our common schools. 

Entertaining these views, and especially as the Board of Edu- 
cation (who must be supposed to be informed on the subject) in 
their report above referred to, state that the Bible is in as gene- 
ral use in common schools in this State as in those States in which 




^41l !jrf 



it has been attempted to be enforced by law, and as this use has 
obtained without any compulsory law on the subject, we are of 
the opinion, without entering into any inquiry as to the constitu- 
tional power of the Legislature on the subject, that it is more 
expedient to leave the matter to those influences under which the 
practice has grown up of reading the Bible in schools as a devo- 
tional exercise, than to resort to the disturbing element of com- 
pulsory law. 

Your committee therefore come to the conclusion that no leg- 
islation on the subject is expedient. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

ASAHEL PECK, for Committee, 





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